INTERNAL STRIFE within the ruling National Unity Party (UBP) in the breakaway regime yesterday led to the announcement of early ‘parliamentary’ elections in the north.
According to reports, seven or eight UBP rebels led by Ahmet Kasif had planned with the Turkish Cypriot opposition to table a motion of censure in ‘parliament’, forcing Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Irsen Kucuk to resign. A provisional government would then have been set up until new elections could be held three months later at the end of September.
Trouble within the UBP has been brewing for some time with the party seemingly divided between the old guard, supporting former UBP head and current Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, and the new guard, who back the incumbent party head Kucuk.
Eroglu is fighting a battle for survival and relevance within the breakaway regime after having reportedly fallen out of favour with Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The AKP government has shown a clear preference for Kucuk over ‘president’ Eroglu, and played an active role in getting Kucuk re-elected head of Eroglu’s UBP last October.
Reports suggest Kucuk is more amenable to Ankara’s persuasion than the septuagenarian Turkish Cypriot leader who has another two years in office.
During last year’s UBP leadership election, Kucuk had to fight off the strong candidacy of Eroglu-backed Ahmet Kasif.
Kasif is believed to have played a big role behind the scenes in getting UBP rebels to coalesce with other Turkish Cypriot parties to topple the ‘government’ in the north.
Kucuk reportedly cut his trip to New York short to come and fight off the rebellion.
However, it transpired yesterday that Kasif’s efforts were betrayed by the main opposition, the Republican Turkish Party (CTP). When push came to shove, the CTP agreed to a counter-proposal by Kucuk.
Instead of bringing about the fall of the ‘government’, Kucuk proposed calling for early ‘parliamentary’ elections on July 28, just over two months away. In this way, Kucuk gets to stay in office until then, while the UBP rebels will not secure the requisite three months needed before an election to set up their own splinter party. Reports suggest the rebels will consider aligning with the Democratic Party (DP) headed by Serdar Dentkash, son of the late Rauf Denktash.
Should the elections provide no clear winner, the next ‘government’ in the north could be a coalition one between CTP (the former party of Eroglu’s predecessor Mehmet Ali Talat) and DP. The latter scenario could go some way to explaining why CTP decided to agree on July elections, putting a spanner in the works for Kasif’s rebels.
It is believed the decision for early elections will be discussed and voted on in the coming days.
According to Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi yesterday, Kucuk was quoted as saying that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to visit the occupied north at the weekend.
Commenting on Davutoglu’s visit, CTP leader Ozkan Yorgancioglu suggested there would be an “issue” if he is coming to interfere in internal politics in the north.
Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu: supported by the old guard within the UBP